bigwordsmith

Thought you were in the depths of winter down there Rick! But then what more could you ask for - Birthday arrives, you get a matching loco and two virgins! Have a good one! Now I'm off out to enjoy the 23 degree summer - better do so now, it ends on Monday! Peter

What stunning buildings Wow

Excellent work again Gilbert - the close in shots where you focus on a specific loco, or even part are very atmospheric - all you need is bait more dirt!

Gilbert - love it! Using the closeups really brings it to life the depth of field is really working in your favour there, especially on the A3. Also very nice to see some different locations. Great work! Peter

Gilbert, back in the days when I was a magazine editor my picture editor did amazing work with some really poor originals, and that was in the pre-digital days, which is why I'm such a fan of cropping. It's not in any way altering the image, but it helps you make the difference between the kind of happy snap that I might get on a platform end with an iPhone, and the beautifully balanced shot you might get with a decent DSLR properly set up. Effectively it makes it look as though you have a 10x zoom rather than a 5x. 90% of the success of a photo lies in it's composition, and sometimes it's what you leave out that brings it to life. Here's an example based on your latest shot... So as you can see, by cutting out the background detail of the bridge, the platforms and so on, your eye is drawn to the front of the loco and the Parcels van sitting just outside, The Van train is nicely out of focus, and makes a good weight to the centre, but manages to let the eye be drawn to the two core elements. It's a great picture, and if I had photoshop I'd really be tempted to add a few wisps of steam! It's only as I look at it now I realise, you've also substituted a Gresley rake for the Mk 1s ATB Peter

Gilbert - keep it going here - we're all tuned in!

Peter that works very well - the contrast between the sunny outside and the stygian gloom of the station is very realistic - a lot of folk forget that whatever aperture you use some parts of a pic will be over exposed and some underexposed, so this works very well. Apart from the lack of smoke ( different subject) you'd have to look several times to not think it's real. It shows what a great layout Gilbert has produced to showcase these excellent models. Peter

Gilbert - as ever great pics and I loved the one looking through the canopy Hope you don't mind, but I've done a wee edit... I find that sometimes putting the loco off centre adds to the realism and tightening into he centre of the frame increases the atmosphere, but then I've learned to like that style as I lack your skills with Photoshop! ATB Peter

My little Lhasa Apso likes to sit on my knee and watch locos going back and forth at Waverley - she growls when a diesel moves!

"First the overnight freight is looped:" - Rick that must be the first time I've heard a 37 with a dog's bark for a horn - boy things really are different in Australia! Great show - hope you have a good autumn/Winter - the weather's just turning round nicely for Spring over here in the sunny ( this morning) Arun Valley.

Thanks for that Rick - very useful tips which I'll try out on The Waverley Route when I get going.

Rick what an outstanding layout- Just read the thread for the first time Two questions: 1) Doesn't it ever rain down there, if so how you do you protect everything. 2) how do get your track work to look so good - not even a fishplate in evidence Peter

You may be late but you're here, and that's good news of itself! Tetley Mills provided the ability to focus in on so many tight aspects that just screamed realism that it made me want to curl up in a heap and give up - I watched the video about three times and bid - unsuccessfully - for some of the buildings, so to me at least your opinion matters. The consensus seems to be that a bit of background enhancement, effective cropping and rail height views are all fair use of the tools available, it's when people move to the esoteric and fake the shot heavily that I personally don\t like. From the number of 'agrees' that have popped up I'd say that's probably a majority view, but to be honest it's aimed more at magazine editors than the modellers who do a damn tough job.

To support micklner's suggestion - here's one of those 'natural shots' which I screen grabbed and cropped using native apps on the mac - A lot less infill needed and still hugely realistic. OF course you can't do this unless the original image is good

Great response Gilbert and the key as you point out is that the recreation is giving us all a great deal of pleasure.

Tony - interesting observations - BRM is far from being the worst at the 'fill in.' I've seen some total fakes in other titles to which I no longer subscribe. Like many modellers, I want to see and learn the work of the great and good, but I also want to know that I can at least have some chance of striving to emulate their results. Photoshopping out their missing bits does neither them nor us a service.. To this day I remember being taken to an exhibition by my father when I was just 10 or 11, and seeing a layout with Allan Downes buildings on it. We were both both transfixed and completely missed the hand-built black five that eaed into sight beneath the amazing scenery. I think it was Mr. Downes himself who commented in an article that for a railway to be a true model, the trains should be incidental to the scene in which they run, not its focus. My view is that subtle enhancement - as Gilbert does, is fine, because it leaves the models, many of which are outstanding, to speak for themselves. 'nuff said by me, Gilbert thanks for letting us go off topic!

Sorry folks - just re-read and realised that my comment could have been taken as a criticism of Gilbert's work - quite the opposite, I'm a huge fan and welcome very new shot. I think PN's got the balance right - Sky is way preferable to bookcases, although I'm not sure the Peterborough Tourist Information Centre would be overly happy about the place always being depicted as under heavy cloud! My concern is when you see fantastic layouts with what looks like a work of art scenic backdrop, but is actually a piece of photoshoppery, or as Tony suggested, retouching flaws to make a model look more perfect than it is. Not all editors are as scrupulous on this as they should be!

Gilbert & Tony, I'd say it isn't off topic at all as this seems to have become the premier discussion forum on RM Web - we're in the company of experts here and as ever when the great and good come together the debate will invariably widen. You could set up a discussion on the use of digital manipulation, in which case I'd throw in that there has to be a line somewhere, but defining it will be the challenge. Using skies and filled in steam/smoke does add a dimension to the pics, but it also covers up a ton of laziness. Where you have a large open layout, as at an exhibition, the back scene is a critical component, so to an extent filling it in digitally is letting the modeller off the hook of having to provide one. I've spotted this happening in a couple of shots where the back scene has been digitally edited in using a photograph which makes everyone go green at the modeller's skills, but is not a true representation of the reality. Certainly as soon as you start photoshopping pics of models - someone mentioned editing out the NEM pocket, then you're losing sight of the purpose of the pic, which is to show off the modelling skills of those involved. I would liken it to waking up in the morning next to Kate Moss - without her makeup. The results are still gong to be outstanding, but a significant let-down compared to how she looked with all the editing! But let's not forget this is something we all do for fun. Peter

@Theakerr Apparently it helps with thermal values as well.

My first ever job was learning to be a surveyor, and my mentor taught me a very valuable life lesson "Never trust a plan or any measurement you haven't confirmed yourself."

Thanks Jaz It'll be fun letting them stretch their legs on the new Railway, but a lot of building work before that comes into view!

Gilbert how are you planning to dispose of your unwanted railway books collection? I'm sure you must have some in there that would convert into new loco vouchers from your many admirers on here! Peter

Peter That looks impressive - will it work on a Mac?

How does Tim do it ?

That looks awfully like the geodesic structure of the roof at London Bridge!